They call it a Slice of Life
by Clotifoth
Summary: After a demanding school day, stuff happens. Features Kagami cooking main story , Konata's all-nighter recovery, and Tsukasa's "manga shopping" ;D Miyuki, however, has a more serious afternoon. Note: Features fanmade characters. My first fanfic, R&R! :D!
1. Chapter 1

A girl with purple hair opened her the front door to her house, weary. She shouted in a fairly pleasant if slightly nasal voice, "I'm home!"

She went to her room immediately, practically diving on the bed. Anyone could tell that this day had been significantly more demanding than most from the way she practically fell asleep. Her pigtails were a mess about her head as she took a moment to take the moment in. 'Home at last.' She thought as sighed pleasurably and rolled over to stare at the ceiling.

She took just a few minutes, eyes closed, to relax, if from nothing else, from the train ride. Such a train ride, though routine by now for her, still was the icing on the tired cake, especially since she had to stand most of the way, preventing her from sleeping.

The Hiiragi residence was a pretty quiet place that Friday afternoon. It was one of those few days where Kagami was the only one without plans. Miyuki had scheduled a quite unusual meet-up with friends from her old school.

'Actually,' Kagami thought, sitting up on her bed, 'that doesn't sound too weird. I can imagine it now, it'd probably be like three Miyuki-chans together.' She silently chuckled at the thought of three pink haired moes hanging out together.

Konata was, of course, recovering from an all-nighter of epic proportions from the day prior. 'Typical Konata,' Kagami mused, 'probably asleep or reading manga.' She sighed still. 'I hope she did decent on that test...' She stood up from her bed. 'I should call her.'

The pigtailed girl flipped out her cell phone, for convienience's sake, and chose #7 on her speed dial- Konata Izumi. Someone picked up after four rings.

"Izumi residence." A rather aged man answered the phone. "Who is this?"

"Hey Mr. Izumi," spoke the tsundere, "is Konata there?"

"Oh, hey Kagami. Konata's passed out; she must've pulled an all-nighter last night or something. Poor thing- I think I'll make her favorite curry for dinner. Then again, I'm a bit tired myself..." Sojiro eventually punctuated this with a loud yawn.

"Okay, thanks Mr. Izumi." Kagami sighed and ended the call. 'Like father like daughter...' she closed the phone and slipped it back into her pocket.

A few minutes passed. Kagami laid on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. She soon got up and checked through her light novels. 'Ugh, I've read all of it!' she pouted, turning to her games. 'And I've beaten all of these, too.'

She went up the stairs, beginning to lose hope that there was something to do on this boring weekend afternoon. "Tsukasa, y'there?" A similar phone call to one made not more than twenty minutes ago enlightened that she had gone out with their older sisters to go... manga shopping?

'That was uncharacteristic of them,' the elder of the Hiiragi twins thought, 'and since when do Inori or Matsuri particularly like manga? Such horrible liars, they're probably corrupting Tsukasa with yet another scheme...' Kagami blushed upon realizing the vacuous possibilities that the lie may have covered, some of them being... far less appropriate for one of Tsukasa's calibur than others.

"Dammit! Why is there nothing to do!" Kagami complained to the vacuous nothingness that was her room, in a matter more expected from a child. She laid on her bed again. 'Maybe there's something on TV I could watch?'

It was television that turned out to be her sanity's savior that afternoon. For once, there was some decent afternoon programming- and in an oddly consistent order, too. A detective show that was reaching a genuinely interesting climax was followed by some American animation; most definitely a rare sight on Japanese televsion. Kagami noted that it was slightly more fluid and probably used far different animation techniques than the local variety- not to mention that it was loaded with American cultural references that absolutely did not pass through to the Japanese language dubbing, as well as American puns that were not properly replaced, explained or removed. Under any other condition, it perhaps would've been "meh", but it was easily the most unusual- and thus interesting- sight on the airwaves.

Perhaps that would've been the end of the search for interesting things. Unfortunately, as the cruel television schedule would have it, the channels' programming began to shift from the afternoon-styled, less popular shows to news, game shows, and so on. When the exotic animation ended, boring news replaced it.

'Argh, time to flip again.' A minute or so of flipping revealed all channels to have reached the same fate. Frustrated, Kagami went back to her bedroom. 'Ugh, nothing to do again!'

The girl looked over at the clock in her room. '5:43. It's getting late, wonder where everyone is. Shouldn't be taking so long just to... ugh, I don't even want to think about it."

A large comical grumble resounded throughout the room, echoing off every previous silent surface. The source of the grumble sighed angrily.

* * *

Outside of a somewhat popular fancy Western afternoon cafe, a pink haired girl waited. Her hair fell low past her shoulders, although her clean street clothes belied the fact that the street was rather dirty, and the air rather unpleasant. In fact, she seemed to give off a radiant aura, to the point where it seemed that even those that passed her smiled just a little bit.

'Oh, where are they...' Miyuki began to worry as the time they were supposed to come by had come and passed. The meganekko walked inside the cafe, and spoke to the hostess, "Hello, how do you do?"

The hostess looked up. "Hm? Oh, yes, I am fine, thank you! How are you?"

Miyuki adjusted her glasses, "A bit late I'm afraid." The moe girl sweatdropped. "Can we please move my reservation... a few minutes ahead?"

The hostess looked at Miyuki, and sighed. "The place is pretty empty now, so why not. Your reservation was..."

"It should be under Takara, miss,"

"Oh yes. Friends running a little bit late?" The hostess smiled.

"Um, yes, it appears so..." Miyuki meekly responded. She grabbed a novel out of one of her coat pockets and walked back outside.

'Back to waiting I suppose. I wonder if they would even notice me, it feels like eternity since we've seen eachother in such a group.' She kept a vigilant guard up for a minute or two, then grew subconsciously frustrated. 'Oh, I suppose they may take a short while.' She made sure her cell phone was turned on, then opened the novel. 'Might as well read while I wait for them,' she decided. 'Oh my, I wonder what's taking them?'

* * *

A small blue haired girl staggers inside a door. Her hair is significantly messier than usual; she looks worn out to the point of utter exhaustion.

"Kone-chan, are you all right?" Sojiro asked Konata as she staggered in and threw her bag to a wall. Konata mumbled back a response, and Sojiro nodded. 'It really isn't like her to be so tired, I mean, even her all-nighters are usually recovered from by this time.'

"Couldn't get a nap on the train, sleepy head?" Kojiro questioned his daughter. Konata responded with a slow, tired nod as she tired to remain balanced on her own feet.

Kojiro sighed. "This isn't that healthy you know." Konata groaned as Kojiro laughed at his little joke. "Come on, I'll let you rest." Konata tried to stutter out an anime reference, but it buckled and fell shortly before her legs did the same. The dating sim otaku bent down over the other dating sim otaku to hear a faint snore. Kojiro picked up the small blue haired one in his arms, and walked over to the Konata's room. Noticing himself shiver, he laid Konata down on the ground for a second as he lifted the kotatsu from the living room at least a foot off the ground- a definite strain considering it was not packed up in any sense of the word- and brought it over to the sleeping short girl. He diligently set it up for her room, and then laid his daughter down under it. The traditionally clothed man propped Konata's head up to set a pillow under it, then turned on the kotatsu.

'Sweet dreams, Konata.' Kojiro took a long look at his sleeping daughter. 'She works so hard at her schoolwork.' he ironically thought as he walked out of the room, assured of Konata's comfort. 'I think I'll make her favorite curry tonight.'

He looked over to his laptop, now sitting on the floor. 'Well, maybe after I write a chapter or two of this story.' He sighed, and began to walk over to the laptop.

Just as he walked into the now-slightly-more-barren living room, the phone started to ring. Kojiro almost jumped towards the phone, and answered it as quickly as he could- after four rings.

"Izumi residence," he spoke to the caller.


	2. Chapter 2

The trains were packed that Friday afternoon as a bright red haired girl boarded. She had a very delicate step and made almost no noise as she pushed into the crowd of standing people though others groaned. She wore a school uniform as could be expected from someone coming from school directly to somewhere. Unlike the familiar Ryoo sailor fuku, however, this was more elegant. The thread count was noticeably higher.

'This was an odd invitation,' the girl recalled a series of text messages she had received and responded to from one of her old schoolmates. Her short hair and thin build meant that she didn't take up much space in the small vacuole she was allotted by the other passengers.

'Still,' she continued to muse, 'It would be nice to meet up with her. I remember some good times hanging out with Miyuki, though...'

The girl began to descend into a flashback...

"_Such an disgusting odor!" A slightly younger Miyuki spoke, and was followed by a chorus of laughter from the small group. The classroom was very opulent and designed for human comfort. The desks had plush beige seats and fine wood tops, and the lighting came from a somewhat-pricey chandelier between the desks and the teacher's equally magnificent desk. Rather than a chalkboard, a large sophisticated SMARTboard lined the front of the room, with whiteboards around the side. The class was mostly out to a lunch break, getting delicious lunches from a cafeteria- the trio had brought bento boxes and were eating whilst the others waited on line._

"_Yeah," a slightly younger version of the short haired girl spoke in response. She looked over to the nearby window and sighed at the scene of an early spring. The light cover of snow finally melting, the sun slightly higher in the sky, all just seemed to depress her._

"_What's wrong Akane?" The third member of their trio noticed the crimson-haired one's aloof stare at the outside._

"_Well, you know," Akane answered, "it's our last year here, and high school entrance examinations are coming, and..." she took a long pause before continuing._

"_... It could be the last year we're in school all together like this, y'know?"_

_The third person in the trio was a few inches taller than Miyuki, and had a noticeably increased bust size. She brought with her an air of frailty that could offset Miyuki's cheery air. She seemed just a touch unstable physically and emotionally. If one had spent a day or two with her, they could tell that she was worried about something- specifically, about her family, which had itself become unsure in recent time from her parent's various fights and passive-aggressive hatred which may have result in something drastic. She wouldn't likely tell anyone, though._

"_Don't worry," the white haired girl spoke, "we'll just all work hard and get accepted to a good high school then!" She laughed in an attempt to lighten the mood._

_Miyuki frowned. "Actually, I'm thinking about going to a less exclusive B class school this year... I'm thinking about going to... Ryoo, I believe it's called."_

_The other two looked at Miyuki- Akane with a surprised look, and the white haired one with a genuinely hurt look._

The train came to a stop. Akane snapped out of her flashback. She saw that a large number of people had gotten up, to the point where there was a seat available- which she took advantage of immediately. Worriedly, she looked around for indication of the stop. A minute of anxiety passed by, until the current stop was announced over the train's speakers. 'Ah... okay, two stops left.' she noted from her knowledge of the route she was on. The redhead breathed in the air, still reeking the odor of a crowded, hot room. 'It'll be nice to see her again, at least. I hope Hikari feels the same...'

* * *

On a train scheduled to the same route but 10 minutes prior, a white haired girl sat. From the past, Hikari's bust line had not grown much- it was probably about equal to Miyuki's at this point -and her hair was about an inch or two longer yet the same snowy tone it had been for all her life, as hair pigmentation illnesses tend to do that.

While this train was fairly empty, the white haired inhabitant bore a foul mood that seemed to depress the entire scene. She sat in the school uniform that bore so much resemblance to Akane's, save for the fact that it was far more well kept. Akane may have kept decent care of the uniform, but Hikari really cared for it like it was her child... her fancy, fancy child.

The train made a stop, then another. Not many people got on or off at either stop. The sun was noticeably low in the sky as it might be given the time. The train ride had been moving slower than usual to the point where the entire route was 10 minutes behind schedule.

'Next stop is mine...' she reminded herself before sighing and continuing her brooding. 'Why am I even here on this train to Saitama anyway... there's nothing to do there.'

The train started to move again.

'If it wasn't for Akane-chan, there's no damn way I'd be coming out here. If she didn't want to come... ugh. Why did Miyuki have to message us, why couldn't she just... leave us alone? Why can't she just get along with her new friends, at her oh-so-precious-new-school?' She spoke this last phrase with a combination of ridicule and heavy disdain.

As the train zoomed through the land, Hikari began to fall into a sort of trance, reminiscing...

_Miyuki frowned. "Actually, I'm thinking about going to a less exclusive B class school this year... I'm thinking about going to... Ryoo, I believe it's called."_

_The other two looked at Miyuki- Akane with a surprised look, and the white haired one with a genuinely hurt look._

_Realizing the impact this brought, the pink haired girl rushed to apologize. "I-I'm dearly sorry Hikari, Akane... but I wanted to experience more typical education. I've liked this time we've shared together as students, but I fear that if I keep coming here, I will grow up to become too sheltered for the real world."_

_Miyuki commented to herself with a light blush, 'Not to mention the fact that all the sweets for breakfast and lunch here are giving me so many cavities I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to be brave enough to get them all fixed!'_

_Akane quickly averted the look she was giving and tried her best not to look saddened. "It's okay, Miyuki," she spoke, "I understand." _

_Miyuki looked guilty, like she was showing her mother a report card with all F's... save for the fact that this was far worse. She looked like she was on the brink of crying._

_Hikari looked paralyzed, like she had just touched two power lines barehanded, and hurt, like someone had just went through her heart with a katana... which someone might as well have done for how heartbroken she was._

_The least endowed of the three knew her best efforts were not proving enough, so she tried just a little more. She forced a kind smile. "Hey, come on," she said, in a steady, cheerful voice, "let's not worry about this! We have an arts festival and more than a whole trimester to have as much fun as we can, so let's do this!" The other two looked at her almost instantaneously._

_Miyuki cheered up a little, her eyes having watered. "Okay, Akane, it's a de-"_

_Hikari stood up. "Whatever. I... need to go." She began to walk out._

"_Hikari..." Miyuki rose and reached out to Hikari. "Hikari... I apologize... I... I didn't know you cared so... so... so much."_

_Hikari sighed. "Miyuki... I really don't want to go." A blush spread across her face. "But... I really can't help it if you want to go to another school, and I wouldn't want to hold you back._

_Akane joined in the forming conversation, "Plus, we'll still see eachother around, and we can still stay in contact through email and meet up that way."_

_A touch of blush had creeped up Miyuki's face by this point. "Okay..." She tried to remedy the awkwardness, "Don't worry Hikari-san, we can message eachother each day about our new schools, and maybe go into a chat room on weekends!"_

_Hikari responded in a notably upbeat mood, "Yeah, absolutely."_

_People from the cafeteria began to come back, and the trio went back to their lunches and their idle conversation, although an awkwardness had spread over them, such a shroud that would never lift for the rest of the year..._

The fancifully uniformed girl came out of her flashback trance. The train had already come to a stop- the stop she knew was hers- and she disembarked the train, no happier. She knew how the resolutions would turn out, how the time after the argument would pass...

"Hey, Hikari!" Akane shouted from across the terminal. The red haired girl had arrived not long before.

The frail one ran over to her. "You have the directions to the cafe, Akane-chan?"

"Yep, here are Miyuki-chan's directions." The more cheerful of the two unfolded a piece of paper from her pocket. "Let's go."

* * *

"Can you bring my books home for me?" Tsukasa kindly asked her pigtailed twin as the train began to grind to a stop. Kagami nodded.

Tsukasa stood up from her seat next to Kagami on the bullet train. "Thanks! Seeya later, sis!" she cheerfully said to Kagami as she disembarked from the vehicle.

Kagami grunted as polite an acknowledgement as she could muster, looking tired as ever as her sister left. While Kagami may have been exhausted, Tsukasa was quite unusually full of life.

The youngest Hiiragi sister looked at a clock somewhere around the terminal. 'Oh, my transfer is already here!' She had been coerced to hang out with Inori and Matsuri today, apparently to shop for manga at some new place she'd never been to yet. While manga wasn't one of her key interests, she _was_ running low on manga... 'And I can't remember the last time we've really had any time to hang out,' she thought, 'so this should be fun!'

Over the terminal PA, an announcement was made stating that the train Tsukasa had to board was leaving in one minute.

'Oh no!' Tsukasa ran at full speed toward the train which held Inori and Matsuri, clumsily hitting into people on the way over. "Excuse m- sorry, sor- I apolog- my apol- uhh- excuse me..." the poor girl growing more and more embarrassed with each passing bump.

She saw it- the train she was supposed to board! 'Yay, I made it!' A smile spread across her blush-covered face. This smile began to dispel as she heard the air brake disengage. The train was starting to leave without her!

"Aaaahhhhhh!" Tsukasa made a spectacle of herself as she sprinted toward the train! 'One, two, three and jump!' She managed the kind of leap she'd never be able to accomplish in a hurdle race, drawing the further attention of everyone inside the train as she landed just a few inches from the door. Nearly toppling over from such an odd impact, she stood up and realized that everyone on the train was staring at her.

"Uh... sorry!" She attempted a cute moe smile before being pulled into the one open seat by Inori. The train started moving fine.

"Girl are you crazy?!" Inori scolded Tsukasa. "You made yourself a fool in front of the entire terminal! I'm so embarrassed....!"

"Now now Inori," Matsuri attempted to calm her sister down, "it's not such a big deal." She turned to Tsukasa. "You should be in the long jump at the next athletics festival!" Matsuri and Inori giggled, and Tsukasa nervously joined in.

"So where are we going onee-san?" Tsukasa innocently asked.

Inori and Matsuri looked at eachother, giving an evil smile, and then turned to Tsukasa. "You'll know veeeery soon.

* * *

"

"Wow, 3rd chapter done. I am on a roll!" Sojiro cheered, pumping his fist in the air several times. "Let's celebrate with some-" He glanced at the clock in the lower right corner of the computer. 4:43.

'Oh crap, I've spent too much time with this!' he thought, frantically. He almost jumped to get to the kitchen and fearfully rummaged through his spices and various cooking supplies. The widowed otaku got several ingredients out- rice, pots, pans, chicken, at least five spices, and-

'Damn it!' he thought, beginning to sweat in his traditional clothing. 'I forgot the fresh curry leaves! Noooooo!' The man fought the urge to scream out loud in a dramatic manner. 'And these onions are rotten!' He sighed, and held his head in between his hands. 'What am I gonna do what am I gonna do...'

He looked up at the clock on their microwave. 4:48. "I know!" Sojiro thought out loud, "I'll go get those ingredients!" He put on slightly more appropriate outerwear attire and unknowingly left his cell phone in the pocket of his robe, which he threw in a pile by the kitchen. Kanata would've been annoyed beyond belief.

He ran outside triumphant and filled with vigor, which drained quite fast as he rode the bike he never used previously to the supermarket. He had to take at least 10 minutes to recover when he got there- more distraction for a man who was pressed for time already.

Meanwhile, back in the Izumi house, a familiar voice erupted with a yawn that had been heard many times before in the mornings of this house. Under a kotatsu, Konata stretched out.

'Wow, I must've passed out from that day! School really wore me out.' the smaller of the two inhabitant otaku thought. She got up and shivered. 'Why didn't I just stay under the kotatsu?' Konata thought with a sense of regret- before she realized that she was sleeping in her own room. 'Wait.... wha? How is that even possible?'

Konata turned off the warmth and lifted the kotatsu piece by piece into the living room, unlike her father's less efficient back-pulling method. When it was all reassembled, she realized something key was missing. "Hey dad, y'here?" she proclaimed. No answer. She glanced in the kitchen to see his robe. Picking it up she noticed a small piece of plastic fell out.

'Dad never leaves home without his cell phone...' Konata picked it up, then put on an air of seriousness. 'Wait, does that mean...'

"Dad's missing..." she deftly wore her SOS armband and cat-like grin, "looks like we have a mystery!"


	3. Chapter 3

Tsukasa watched the passengers of the train as the ride continued, Inori and Matsuri flanking her. The clouds seemed to fly by on a rather pleasant afternoon with a calm wind, though the train's eyes, on what might be perceived as a pleasant afternoon

At each coming stop, more and more people got on. The innocent girl felt lucky to have grabbed a seat while she could, the train was getting really crowded! There was nary a single square foot of area left to stand in, which made Tsukasa question the point of sitting anyway- everyone was practically sitting on their laps anyway.

'Oh!' she pouted in her head, 'if only I had grabbed a schedule for this route! Then I would almost certainly know where we are headed!'

Such foresight would not have been rewarded either way- there was almost literally no room to open up a !

'Actually,' she began to think using her rare-but-valuable common sense, 'there's only one city in all of Japan for which a train could be getting so crowded. But why would they want to take me there? What possible manga shop is there that we haven't seen.' Realizing the fact that manga shops are relatively infinite in number, in their probable destination, Tsukasa sighed in her square foot of air.

After what seemed like an eternity after so many passengers boarded, the train stopped at the terminal most of them had been waiting for. With a mass inhale of air after the sweaty odor of the train, the three disembarked from the train.

After only the longest manner of walking and navigating, the trio left the main terminal. Tsukasa looked backwards to see the statue of Pachiko, so detailed in Japanese legend.

"So where are we headed, sis?" the youngest Hiiragi asked politely.

"Like I said, Tsukasa, leave it up to us." answered Inori.

"Hey, can we take a little detour from our original plan?" Matsuri requested. "I'm starving, I didn't get the chance to eat lunch."

"If we don't get there now we'll never get there in time!"

"But come on! I'm so hungry!"

"No, let's move it!" Inori grew stern, pulling a pouting Matsuri along with her.

Tsukasa sweatdropped.

They walked- the atmosphere surrounding the two had become quite tense. Matsuri walked a good couple of feet behind them still in a pouty mood. Tsukasa was in the middle- a dangerous location, but the only way to make peace. Her presence was obviously having a healing effect. It was only a matter of time before the two made up.

The streets of Tokyo were quite in motion as they tried to hustle their way through and with the thick crowds. While Matsuri and Inori knew exactly where they were going, so it seemed, the headband wearing Hiiragi could not help but think of what horrors might happen if she were to lose sight of her other two sisters in the thick masses...

Contact with Tsukasa's hand was concluded by a particularly severe bump from a member of the massive crowd. She scrambled to grab Inori's hand again, but could not find it.

'Oh no!' she thought frantically. "Matsuri? Inori?" She couldn't see over the masses of people, and she was beyond the point of "starting to be afraid". Closer to "scared to death". She jumped to gain a little bit of height over the crowd.

'Aahhh! I'm moving _back_!' She frantically struggled to push against the crowd, but could not. Over the course of the next ten minutes, and by exploiting every possible opening to squeeze through, Tsukasa made her way over to the right, the less occupied sidewalk. 'Why are there such big masses of people in Tokyo?' Again, she reached rhetoric grounds and sighed.

She pulled out her cell phone, being careful not to let her last salvation drop from her hands. Choosing down the speed dial, she chose Matsuri's number and pressed the button.

'Please pick up please pick up please pick uuuup!' Tsukasa silently begged and prayed in hopes that perhaps the kami of the cell phone would hear and make Matsuri pick up. Eventually, she reached her voice mail and left a lengthy, worried message. She called Inori to only similar results.

Tsukasa sighed, 'Oh, what to do now what to do now...' She sweated hard, beginning to panic in the truest sense of the word!

Her worrying was replaced with true fear, however, as a hand touched her shoulder...

* * *

The newly self-enshrined brigade leader stood triumphantly, then sat down to think.

'Okay, what would Haruhi do...' Konata stared curiously into a void.

Five minutes later she bounded to Yutaka's room.

"Hey Yutaka, you there?" She casually opened the door, noting a rather asleep pink haired figure in her bed, and closed it again. 'Wow, she must've come home after I fell asleep.'

Going again to the kitchen, she examined the scene with the detail of a professional crime scene investigator, yet none of the accuracy. 'Judging by these onions, and this chicken... There's a serial killer going around the place! They call him the Food Processor, and...' Konata's attention span towards real life failed as she descended into cosplay mode. 'I must ... gah, where's Kyon when y'need him?' Not even a deity could help the next person to pass by Konata's house dressed even remotely like the Haruhi character...

The frenzy of cosplay loud grumble resounding from Konata's stomach punctuated the frenzy. The otaku, keeping the armband on, walked again into the kitchen upon which she had drawn invisible outlines of just about everything. The chicken and rice were still on the kitchen untouched. 'Hmm, maybe I should make a little snack. These spices... I could make...' Her eyes lit up, and she spun around dramatically. 'Some awesome curry! The onions are bad and we don't have any actual curry...' she trailed off.

She lit back up again. "I'll make some stir-fry!"

* * *

The supermarket was warmed to a cozy 70 degrees Fahrenheit as Sojiro dramatically ran in. He looked excited beyond all belief, as though the thought of cooking his daughter's favorite curry was enough to inspire joy. He ran to the produce department first.

'Currycurrycurrycurrycurr- AHA!' He saw an entire shelf with various types of fresh herbs, and frantically dug through the curry leaves to find what he saw as the choicest! The apparently picky shopper ran over to onions and carelessly grabbed a couple handfuls that were looked okay. Running for bags for his two produce varieties he narrowly dodged several shoppers including a terrified employee with a stack of carts.

"Kay, that'll be 1,239 yen!" Sojiro mumbled something about sales tax as he reached into his pockets for money.

"So," he tried to start conversation with the somewhat attractive young cashier, "Sojiro finally stopped to catch his breath. "How're you doing today miss?"

"Uhh... sure. Yeah."

Sojiro pulled two 1,000 yen bills out of his pocket, and gave them to the cashier. "Keep the change!" he yelled and smiled, leaving the store.

'Man, I love comin' to the supermarket!' he wore a smug grin on his face.

… 5 minutes later, Sojiro came running back to a cashier holding his curry and onions. "Sorry, I guess I forgot about that." He tried to give his most charming smile.

The cashier sweatdropped, and flatly said, "Have a nice day."

'Konata's gonna love this curry, gonna love this curry!'

* * *

In the mostly empty Hiiragi household, Kagami looked through the kitchen. 'Dang, nothing.' She looked through the cupboards. 'Nada.' She looked through the usual places where snacks were generally put or were hidden. 'Zilch, zip, zero, nothing! Dammit!' Another stomach-based growl filled the room Kagami was in.

'This means...' the cooking-cursed girl looked ominously at the cookware in her kitchen. 'I've gotta _make_ something. Oh boy.'

Kagami tried resisting the hungry growls, she really did. With all her might she tried to do homework, tried to study, tried to so much as read a light novel she had recently bought, but all of these were consistently interrupted by that annoying guttural growl signifying utter and complete hunger! 'Damn it, damn it, damn it!' she raged and screamed inside her head.

'Looks like I've got to make something.' she concluded. 'Better go pray.' She wore her shrinemaiden outfit and meditated in the kitchen, meditated in prayer. A full 10 minutes passed with utter silence, then Kagami got up to start cooking. _The calm before the storm..._

Trying her best to remember how to cook, she prepared a pot to cook rice. When she put the pot on the burner, the sparks created lit Kagami's sleeve on fire. "Aah! Aah!" She screamed, running around before dunking it in the pot full of water. A cloud of smoke and steam rose from the pot- not enough to set the fire alarm off, but enough to make Kagami cough. 'This,' she mused, 'will not end well.' A growl arose from her stomach, about a half octave higher than previous.

'But dammit, I'm hungry!'


	4. Chapter 4

It didn't take too much walking for Akane and Hikari to reach the restaurant, and a tide of nervousness permeated the air. Akane was worried about Hikari's nervous mood; Hikari was rather nervous to see Miyuki again. The snow-haired girl did not want to show this internal conflict; rather she tried to put on a resistant face, but the true emotions displayed through. Living with feuding parents- and later, an unsupportive father- and in such a harshed environment as amongst the cultural bourgeoisie, she had bottled her emotion. Truly the greatest fear of Hikari was that this meeting would open the bottle, and it would all flow out.

It just wasn't fair to Miyuki, she thought, to have to deal with her problems. She deserved better, even though she abandoned Hikari for some lower level "commoner" school.

The cafe's interior resembled a cross between a Victorian-styled diner with modern accents. Anyone knowledgeable in Western interior design would be appalled; but the cafe was surprisingly popular despite- or perhaps because of- its odd stylings.

"Do you have a reservation, ladies?" the maitre d' inquired from them. Akane told him of their reservation with Miyuki.

"She has not arrived yet," he continued, "but feel free to sit whilst you wait for her." They nodded, thanked the richly dressed man, and sat down at a booth.

"It's not like Miyuki to be late." Akane started. Hikari mumbled quietly, "Miyuki's never late. Maybe something's happened?"

"Nah," Akane replied with a tone of assurance in her voice. "Everyone's a little late from time to time."

'Maybe Miyuki's changed too,' the taller girl mused in her head. "A little bit of time does something to everyone."

"Huh? What'd you say?" The crimson haired girl heard that last sentence mumbled out loud.

"Nothing Akane." The prim and proper one of the two answered, sighing in contemplation. Akane picked up on this and stared with her outside of the window to their immediate side. "You're thinking about her, aren't you."

Holding back her bottle of emotions and finally putting on her stoic face, she answered, "No I'm not! I'm thinking about what I could be doing right now if you hadn't dragged me out here." She looked down at the table.

"Hikari-"

"No, just, don't. Stay out of it. Let's just wait for Miyuki in peace and silence." Internally, she regretted those actions. A side of her just wanted to let that bottled-up emotion pour out a great carbonated tide at that moment. Unfortunately for the two, she could not muster it.

Meanwhile, sitting outside of the cafe, a pink haired, well endowed high school girl flips another page in her novel, waiting for two long-lost friends to arrive.

* * *

Having almost ruined a sacred shrine maiden outfit, let alone having singed the tip, Kagami soon took a more conservative approach. Changing back into regular sleep attire, she took a moment to pose an important question to herself, 'What would be the easiest thing I could cook?'

After a good 5-10 minutes of introspection, she came up with... a blank. Nothing. It was all just the same. Curry was difficult, rice was difficult, tea was barely surmountable but still quite hard in comparison to her cooking abilities.

'Why don't I ever try cooking with Inori or Matsuri?' she thought, growing even more agitated. Then, she remembered all of that teasing at her failures and hopelessness of the craft in compared to her sisters' greatness, and succumbed.

Succumbed to fiery rage! She looked at the pot of uncooked rice and water angrily, pointed at it, and started ranting, "Okay rice! Your time has come! You will STOP aggravating me and pestering with me and so help me-" she stood triumphantly with a wooden spoon in hand- "I will cook and eat this rice!"

With a tsundere battle cry, she turned the heat up all the way, making the burner glow red once more! She dramatically slammed the pot onto the stove, in a way that would have caused some sort of splashback had her determination not forced the rice and water back into the pot. Vigorously she cooked over the next twenty minutes, and with wooden spoon in hand, Kagami made the rice into a cakewalk. She pummeled, stirred, watched, tasted, stirred, all with a determined spirit to cook something right for a change.

Raising a couple grains with her spoon and tasting them, she realized the rice was cooked properly. 'YES!' she had done it! After a few silent victory cheers, Kagami looked at her proud rice, at the spoon, at the burner... the burner! The burner was no longer a mere dull red, it was bright red. She had turned the heat up too high! Kagami put the wooden spoon down and reached to dial the heat back, but she leaned over the burner and the bottom of her nightshirt began to catch on fire. Frantically and with a short scream, the cooking-impaired Hiiragi tried patting it out, then ran to the sink and doused it in water. Problem averted...

… or was it? The rice had been knocked off kilter, and water and rice began to spill over the stove! Finally turning back the heat, Kagami swiftly moved the pot onto another burner that was not so red hot, and breathed out dramatically, trying to calm down. The burner soon cooled to dull red, then back down to a dull grey. She looked at the bottom of her nightshirt. Crispy all around the bottom edge, it was not burned too badly. The rice, on the other hand, was a different matter. The rice had burned all to the edges of the pot, and much of it was blackened and hard. What was not encrusted to the pot was instead greatly burnt and crunchy. Kagami looked again at her nightshirt, and at the pot, in disbelief. Hanging her head in shame, she placed the pot containing her failed aspiration in the sink, and began to scrub it clean. The odor of the burned rice layered the air as the night pressed onward.

* * *

The odors of delicious fried meat and vegetables soon filled the Izumi home as Konata was hard at work cooking a delicious stir-fry. The sizzling could provoke the tongues of anyone in the nearby vicinity to water, and the smell was overpoweringly delicious, if a bit lacking in spice. One would never expect that an otaku such as Konata would be such a great cook, but such was the case.

'Mmm, what's that smell?' Sojirou had slowed to a walk, a few minutes away from their house. He soon recognized the odor. 'Smells like stir-fry. Hmm, I wonder what's in it? Smells like... hmm, chicken definitely... Definitely smells like it could use some onions though."

His curry and onions both in a bag in his hand, the odor complemented the delicious, spicy, tangy curry daydreams playing out in his head- specifically, on his tongue, as well as the scene of the supper he envisioned with ecstatic glee.

_Konata yawns and wakes up from her slumber under the nice, warm kotatsu. She stands up and stretches. "Hey dad," she says, half-yawning, "what's for dinner?"_

_She sniffs the air once, and her face shifts into one of amazing delight! "Wait, is that-"_

_Sojirou proudly calls, "Konata, dinner's readys done!"_

The old writer could see his house, a beacon of light amongst the relative dark, and continued walking toward to this beacon, in a sea of delicious smell which, although he couldn't tell, was getting stronger the closer he walked. Still, he was enraptured in his daydreams of receiving culinary glory.

_It is after dinner at this point. All members of the Izumi family sit around the dinner table, stomachs full._

"_Best... curry... ever..." Konata says, still in a state of curried ecstasy._

_With a proud grin on his face, Sojirou begins cleaning off the table._

Sojirou, with an awed expression on his face after seing his own visions of what the dinner will bring, opens the door. "Konata, I'm hoooome!"

* * *

Tsukasa jumped and almost shrieked in fright from the hand touching her shoulder!

Luckily, this hand belonged to Inori. She was safe.

Matsuri stood just to her side with a bag labelled "SOS Burger". Her agitated expression had changed to her usual one. "You 'kay, kid?"

Tsukasa was too close to fainting from the prospect of almost being lost in the vast crowds of Tokyo to put up a complaint as to why her sisters had nearly abandoned her.

"Come on, let's find somewhere to sit so that Matsuri can eat her precious food." Inori made a dig at her sister's previous sudden need for food, sparking a reply from Matsuri that was far less than flattering.

Despite their continued bickering, Tsukasa was just glad to be not lost. She followed the sisters to a seat and continued her epic journey, into lands unknown.


End file.
